Future

Several days ago I made a trek over to Borders to feed my brain. The ritual is pretty simple. Find a place to sit, plop down my bag, order something hot to drink, and look for the most recent issues of the magazines I love to read.

First Things is one of my favorites. It is billed as a "Journal of Religion, Culture and Public Life" and contains a wellspring of thoughts about today's modern day ethos.

While perusing its pages an advertisement for Thomas Aquinas College in California caught my attention. It simply read..."the future never needed the past more than it does today."

I really believe that.

My mind wandered off to a little book that I read a couple of years ago. The title of the book is The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborn.

He writes..."New prophets are rising up to try to change the future, not just predict it. There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it see and becomes the church it dreams of." p. 24.

The past informs the present and the road to the future runs through the past. The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes says, "there is nothing new under the sun."

I often hear people reminiscing about "the good ole days." I think they are referring to 50, 60 or 70 years ago when they talk about those days. Seldom do I hear anyone talking about the past in terms of centuries gone by.

I wonder if we really are aware of the ancient paths and what they have to offer us today? Even though the Apostles Creed is found in many church hymnals, I wonder how many could recite it and know its implications for our day.

Here are some writers who have helped me to understand that the past can powerfully speak to the future.

The Patristic Period gave us Augustine, Justin Martyr and a host of others who contributed to the faith.

The Dark Ages gave us Gregory the Great who kept Christianity alive at a difficult time.

The Golden Age of Mysticism gaves us Bernard of Clairveaux, Francis of Assisi, and Thomas Aquinas

The Reformation Period gave us Martin Luther, John Calvin, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross

The 17th Century gave us Jeremy Taylor, John Bunyan, Francois Fenelon, and Madame Jeanne Guyon.

The 18th Century produced John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd and William Law

The 19th Century brought the works of Soren Kierkegaard, Leo Tolstoy, and others to light.

The 20th Century introduced us to Evelyn Underhill, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Frank Laubach, E. Stanley Jones and George Buttrick.

I am standing in the streams of the past, facing the currents of the present, and searching for wellsprings that will quench the thirst of future generations.